The Future
by taliahrose
Summary: Sometimes, you just know..... Ten/Rose reunion fic. Post Doomsday, pre series 4. Cross posted elsewhere, but titled 'Intuition'- long story, explaination in ch6.
1. Chapter 1

BANG.  
I am slammed into consciousness. I hate that, when you bolt awake in the middle of the night, heart pounding, gasping for breath.  
I was dreaming, nothing new there. About the Doctor, still nothing new. I dreamt the Tardis had landed in a woodland area nearby. He was here, he was back.

I lie back against my pillows with a sigh. I've had similar dreams before, not every night anymore, but often enough to leave me permanently tired. That's all they are though, just dreams, I tell myself as I close my eyes. As soon as I do though the Tardis flashes before my eyes, there's this… feeling, in my belly, my blood is like ice in my veins. A dream, a dream, a dream I repeat in my head, trying to slow my rapid breathing. The feeling inside me doesn't go away though, it grows.

I get up and look out of the window, it's pitch black outside and raining. It's 3:26am and it's November. My eyes strain for something I know cannot be there, but the feeling grows and grows. Somehow, somewhere, He's here.

_"Rose Tyler, you are a total nutter,"_ I mutter under my breath as I tiptoe down the landing to the stairs. I'm in a jumper and leggings now, I don't even know what I'm doing or where I'm going but then I'm in my car and driving. Rain buckets down and I can hardly see. I drive with no conscious destination but soon I'm turning into a car park, Lenbourne Forest it says on the sign, what the hell am I doing here? I get out my torch and I'm soon deep in the forest searching, searching. It's here, I know it is. The rain has soaked through my jumper already, I never thought about a coat. My hair is sticking to my head in pathetic strings but I keep searching.

Cold. So so cold. I stumble over roots and bushes, I turn hopelessly round and round in circles, searching, searching, then I see it. I turn and stare. A blue police box, half hidden among the trees, but it is there, the Tardis. My heart pumps so hard I can feel it in my throat. The silver key that has never left my neck is hot, burning actually, I realize as I touch it.

_"Wanna see if it still works?"_ a voice says from behind me. A very familiar voice. I swallow down a sob as I hear footsteps moving closer. I am rooted to the spot. I cannot turn around, I cannot allow myself to believe. It's not, it cannot possibly be.

A hand gently touches my shoulder and that achingly familiar voice says the one word that haunts me most.

"_Rose_"

I'm turning at the slightest pressure of his hand. I'm sobbing, great big gasping sobs that rack my body, and as I melt into his arms I can feel that he is too.

Hours pass, at least it feels like that and still we stand, in the rain, clinging to each other. Finally he lifts his head from where it's buried in my hair and I look into his eyes for the first time in a 

year.

_"Hello,"_ he says with a grin that threatens to shatter every sliver of composure I have managed to bring together in the past 5 minutes or so.

_"Hello,"_ I manage.

_" Let's go somewhere a bit less wet shall we?"_ he says, taking my hand in his and leading me towards the Tardis.

It's considerably warmer in the Tardis and I immediately feel the full effects of two hours in the pouring rain in November wearing only a stupidly thin jumper. My knees threaten to give way but he is there, taking my weight and guiding me through the control room, down the corridor and into… my old room. It looks just the same, down to the clothes strewn over the chair in the corner and my bed not quite made. The Doctor leaves my side for the first time since we found each other again but returns in an instant with a large white towel.

_"Take off your wet things, wrap this round you, I'm gonna make you some tea."_ He pauses for a second, just looking at me, an unreadable expression on his face, and then he leans in and presses the most tender of kisses on my forehead.

_"Be right back"_ he whispers softly.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm shivering so much it takes me stupidly long to take off my soaking clothes but the warm dry towel against my skin is comforting. My head still feels full of playdough and I just stand staring at the carpet, unable to make any sort of decision about what to do next. My hair is dripping icicles down my back but I can't coordinate my body to do anything about it. I feel him return rather than hear him. He sets two cups of tea on my bedside table and pulls back the duvet on my bed. Warm, gentle hands wrap a huge, thick robe around my shoulders and take care of the dripping hair problem and then I'm being led to the bed where there is a hot water bottle waiting for me.

He hasn't spoken since he left to get the tea but words seem unnecessary right now. I'm sitting up in bed clutching my tea, I'm not shivering quite so much now and I can feel the fog in my brain is starting to clear. I turn my head to look at him, and find him watching me intently. In his eyes I can see concern, relief, joy and tenderness but behind these emotions I can see haunted shadows of something much darker and a bit more of my heart breaks for him. It's too much and I look away but not looking is worse so I find his eyes again and this time I see something else, another emotion, raw and intense and unguarded. It takes my breath away and I know my own eyes are a mirror image as we gaze at each other. It is not the right time now for facing up to this unexplored territory but our relationship has just taken a much deeper turn than ever before.

The doctor is blow drying my hair. This should be very weird but it actually feels like the most natural thing in the world. I'm warming up nicely now and having nearly dry hair feels wonderful. I'm not thinking about the knots I'm going to have to tackle tomorrow, I'm just enjoying the moment. The doctor turns the dryer off and smoothes my hair down the best he can.

" There," he says, his voice a little coarse from not talking for a while.

_" Think we may have seen off the hypothermia." _He grins, a big stupid grin and I can't help returning it.

_"Did I have hypothermia then"?  
_  
_"Well, not quite but you were well on your way." _He reaches out a hand and touches my forehead. _" Your temperature is back to normal now, but you need to take it easy, let yourself recover a bit."  
_  
He gesture for me to lie down and I comply, a wave of exhaustion washing over me but when he stands to leave I bolt upright again. _"No. stay, don't go."  
_  
I'm a little shocked at how desperate my voice sounds but I don't care, I'm not ready to be alone, 

I'm not ready to be without him, even for a little while.

He smiles softly, _"I'm not going anywhere without you"  
_  
I pat the covers next to me and he gives a mock-dramatic sigh, then he shocks me by tugging down his trousers and unbuttoning his shirt. Wearing just a t-shirt and his boxers he lifts the duvet up and slides into bed beside me. A million thoughts rattle through my head at once but exhaustion washes over me again and when he takes me into his arms and my head is resting on his chest I can't remember anything feeling as right as this. We have so much to talk about, so much to tell each other and so many questions to answer but the whys and hows can wait until later, simply being with him, being together again is all we need right now.


	3. Chapter 3

Ringing, ringing shut up with the ringing. Recognition penetrates my sleep-dead brain. It's my phone alarm, I should be getting up for work. Work. Mum. Reality. It all seems so far away. We've only been asleep for a couple of hours but I feel much better, totally warm and happier than I think I've ever been.

The Doctor is now awake next to me, a grin already spreading its way across his face.

"_You ok?"_ His face is neutral but I can see concern lingering in his eyes

I nod and look at my phone. _"I should be going to work this morning, think I might pull my _first sickie!" My brain is actually thumping inside my skull as it tries to process everything that's happened in the past few hours.

_"You still working for Torchwood then?"_ He's looking at me with such pride in his eyes.

_"Yeah, I'm still there, every now and then I get to use my 'superior knowledge' on alien lifeforms, but there's a shed load of paperwork that never ends."_

His eyes drop to the phone in my hand that I'm fiddling with. _"I'm just gonna text mum, I'll tell her I went to the gym before work, I do that sometimes"_

"Rose Tyler at the gym?" There is a smirk on his face that I'm not sure I like.

_"Well I got pretty fit when I was with you, all that running around. I've never been that fit before, didn't wanna loose it"_ His eyes take on a far away look for a few seconds, then he snaps out of it.

_"7:30, isn't that a bit early for Jackie Tyler to be up and about, still the middle of the night for her isn't it?"  
_  
_"Not anymore it's not, Lucy's usually awake by 6:30."_

Confusion crosses his face for a second. _"Lucy? Oh, the baby."_ He looks at me and his eyes are shining. _"You've got a baby sister?"  
_  
_"Yep, she's gorgeous, Mum's besotted. It hasn't stopped her fussing over me like I hoped it would though."  
_  
_"Oh that'll never happen."_ He reaches out and strokes my arm gently. _"You really ok?"_ He touches a hand to my forehead and studies my face intently for a few seconds. _"Your temperature is fine now, and your colour is good, I think you'll live."  
_  
He wraps an arm around me and pulls me closer to his body and I can feel a slight tremor run through his body, like he is fighting the urge to hold me so tight we could never be parted again.  


A silence falls between us that grows from seconds into minutes and the unanswered questions begin to burn holes in my brain. When I finally speak my voice is wobbly and not at all controlled.

_"How are you here with the universe still intact?"_ My heart is racing and my mouth is dry and I'm not even sure why.

My head is resting firmly on his chest and I hear him take a breath before he answers me.

_"I don't know Rose, I really don't know. I was in the vortex and it was like last time, I got a bang on the head this time though, came round to find we'd landed."_ He shifts slightly and I lift myself to let him get up. I know he needs to be on his feet when his brain is busy. I sit up and watch as he paces the room, fiddling with a piece of wire he's found from somewhere.

_"I don't understand why the universe didn't shatter, it absolutely should have done."_ I can tell he has been holding all of this in since we found each other and the relief at being able to release the tumbling torrent of thoughts is obvious.

_"Do you think our universe is ok?"_ I almost don't want the answer to this question but I have to ask.  
_  
_He turns to look at me, his face strained with emotion._ "I hope so."_

He's on the move again, fingers worrying the wire into a multitude of shapes. _" I've checked this universe out as far as I can, that's what I was doing before you came here, everything seems to be ok, time will tell I suppose. There's no way we can know how things are on the other side."_

I don't want to think about that, I can't let myself think about that, not right now.

_"The Tardis is ok this time though, I mean…." _ I gesture around the room, which is glowing a gentle shade of green

_"She seems to be fine. I checked her over too, once I figured out where I was. I don't think….. I don't think it was 'luck' that I ended up here, exactly where you happen to be. I don't know what happened in the vortex that caused us to fall out but I think the Tardis found you. You are a part of each other, she was drawn to you. She missed you."_ He turns his head away from me.

_"I missed you,_" he whispers.

I'm crying now, my tears drip on the duvet, making a spotty pattern.

_" I missed you so much I thought I might actually die form the pain."_ His voice is tight with emotion, I've never seen him like this before.

"_Me too"_ I manage to sob and then he is there on the bed next to me and his arms are wrapped around me so tight I can hardly breath. We sit, rocking gently back and forth, and I've never felt anyone hold me with such intensity. My head is tucked in tight to the hollow of his neck and I can feel him pressing soft kisses into my hair. One of us moves, or maybe we both do and then he's gazing into my eyes so deeply I can read his soul. My eyes settle on his lips for a second, I just cannot stop them, but my heart stops beating when his do the same. His head tilts to the side slightly and he moves in closer. Oh god, he's going to kiss me, he's actually going to kiss me.

And then my phone rings. My stupid bloody buggery phone. And he's laughing awkwardly, and I'm blushing furiously. It's my Mum. Who else would it be? I try to get rid of her but she's worried about why I'm not at work. Bugger. Forgot to phone them. She's demanding to know what's going on, where am I? why am I not at home if I'm ill. I don't know what to say to her, and then the penny drops so loud I can almost hear it. _"It's him isn't it.? He's here."_

I tell her she's right and I'm fine and he's fine and we'll come and see her very soon and she finally lets me hang up. _"Is she ok?"_ The Doctor is watching me from the other side of the room as he gets dressed.

_"For now, yes." _ I feel a bit woozy from what just almost happened. He was going to kiss me and I wanted him to with every fiber of my being.

_"We'd better go and face the music I suppose, I'm gonna make you some breakfast if you want to grab a shower." _He comes up to me and takes my hand. _"We have a lot still to talk about, things I need to tell you."_ His eyes lock with mine again and he lifts a hand to stroke my face. _"Later,"_ he smiles at me and my heart turns to liquid. _"Later,"_ I reply.


	4. Chapter 4

My Dad is waiting outside the TARDIS when we emerge into the gloomy day light, it's stopped raining but only for a bit, judging by the heavy sky.

He hugs me and checks I'm ok, then turns to the Doctor. _"You seem to be making quite a habit of managing the impossible."  
_  
The Doctor grins but looks a little uncomfortable. _"I'm not here intentionally, no matter how much I wanted to be."_ He looks at me and the pain in his eyes is completely unguarded.

We follow my Dad back to the house in my car. We chat about this and that, stupid things really, neither of us ready to face up to more in depth questions about the lives we've been living since we were ripped apart.

He looks up as my Dad's car suddenly indicates to turn off into our driveway_. "This is not the house I remember from before."_ I can see him looking at me from the corner of my eye. _"No, we moved here a year ago, Mum just couldn't settle in the old house."_

He tries to suppress a snort but isn't very successful "_I would have thought your mother would love living in that huge house, servants to wait on her hand and foot, everything money could buy."_ His eyes sparkle the way they always did when he teased me about my mother.

I swing my car into my usual parking space and turn off the engine. "_She really hated it actually, so did I. It made me so uncomfortable, being expected to summon somebody just to bring me a tissue, never being 'alone' in 'our' house, not even being able to cook my own chips!"  
_  
He laughs, sharp and clear and my heart explodes with love for him. "_So Pete gave up his mansion for Jackie then? "  
_  
His grin is so infectious; it spreads to my face in seconds "_Yeah, he did. I think it was a relief to be honest, to let go of the memories tied up in that place. He's been much happier since we moved."  
_  
My Dad has gone inside leaving us still sitting in my car in the rain. We sit in silence for a minute and then he opens the door. _"Come on then, let's put poor Jackie out of her misery, I bet she's dying to slap me"_

He walks round to where I'm standing and reaches for my hand. Electricity sparks up my arm as our fingers touch and we walk hand in hand towards the front door.

Mum and Dad are in the kitchen, Mum's face breaks into a huge smile as we walk in and she hugs me tightly. _"You ok sweetheart?"_ The stupid grin on my face is obviously answer enough as she turns to The Doctor, standing by my side, throws her arms around his neck and plants a huge kiss on his cheek.

_"I knew you'd come back one day, I just knew it"_ She releases him and he gapes at her in shock, 

he really was expecting a slap. Mum obviously finds this hilarious "Blimey, first time I've seen you speechless." The Doctor looks at me, eyebrows arched before assuming a more Doctor like composure.

An hour, and several cups of tea (which The Doctor all but pounced on) later we are still all sat round the kitchen table. Questions have been asked and answered as well as they can be and I still can't quite get my head around the fact that he is really here, sitting next to me in our kitchen, holding my hand under the table.

Mum jumps up to answer the phone and as soon as she starts to speak I get a jolt as I am plunged back into reality again. Mum and Dad have arranged to go away this weekend, today actually, and I've agreed to look after my baby sister. It was my idea really, Mum has been a bit knackered recently, Lucy is not the greatest of sleepers at night and she was also quite poorly a couple of weeks ago and Mum's been feeling the strain a bit so I thought a weekend away might do her good.

Mum hangs up and beckons me to the hallway. _"Look sweetheart, I know me and your Dad are supposed to be going away tonight but I just spoke to Cathy and she says we can go another time …."  
_  
She is looking at me with such concern in her eyes. _"No it's fine mum, I can still have Lucy, you need a break, it's fine."  
_  
_"But Rose, you and him have got so much to catch up on, you need time alone." _She looks at me meaningfully and I can feel my cheeks turning red.

The Doctor comes up behind me, his hands rest gently on my shoulders. _"It's ok Jackie, Pete told me about your weekend, I'm quite happy to help Rose take care of the baby, I'm rather good with babies actually."  
_  
Mum swats him playfully, _"Is there anything you're not good at?" _ He just laughs and she turns her attention to Dad. She doesn't see the doctor's index finger trace a slow line up the side of my neck, or the way my entire body shivers as he does it. The tension between us is beginning to crackle.

_"Rose, you show the doctor round, the spare room is all ready up there. Can you check on Lucy too, she's been asleep for hours."_

This house is of much smaller proportions than the other one but it's still huge compared to the flat. After a quick tour of the rest of the house we come to my room, it's not very tidy but that's no surprise. He walks round the room, picking up this and that until he comes to the photo by my bed. It's of him, taken just after we got back from the 2012 Olympics. He didn't know I was taking it till the flash went off so it's a really natural picture. It's also the only one I have of him. _"It was still on my phone, which happened to be the only possession I came through the breach with._" My voice is a bit shaky, I realize as I speak.  


He turns to look at me and I'm shocked to see tears in his eyes. _"I didn't have a picture of you, it's not something I usually do, keep photos, but I would have liked one of you."_ His voice is so quiet it's almost a whisper.

Before I can respond he's pulled me to him and his face is buried in my neck, and all I can do is stroke the back of his head as he holds me tight. A long while later he releases me and straightens himself up. _"Sorry about that, I just, you know, needed to."  
_  
He's embarrassed I realize so I reach up and stroke his face. _"It's ok, I needed it too."_ On impulse plant a kiss where I've just touched him and hug him again.

_"You need to check on the baby don't you."_ His voice, suddenly back to normal shakes me from the trance like state I seem to have slipped into.

Lucy is awake when I open the door, and greets me with the most enormous smile. _"Hello gorgeous girl."_ Her little arms and legs flap up and down in excitement as I approach the cot and scoop her up.

_"She's certainly pleased to see you,"_ The Doctor says as Lucy nuzzles into my shoulder. I kiss her soft fair hair and breathe in her baby smell. The Doctor comes closer and Lucy eyes him warily. She's got to the age where she's a bit funny with people she doesn't know well. He talks gently to her for about a minute and then she totally floors me by smiling and reaching out for him. He takes her into his arms and I'm amazed at how naturally he holds her.

"_She's the spitting image of you as a baby, She could be the same baby."_ Lucy gazes at him intently, then looks at me, then back at him.

_"I know, scary isn't it? Mum says she's got my temperament too, stroppy when she doesn't get her own way!"  
_  
Mum's face is a picture when the doctor walks into the kitchen carrying Lucy. _"Oh my god, she usually screams her head off if a strange man even looks at her."_

The Doctor grins at her. "_Told you I was good with babies."_


	5. Chapter 5

It's nearly 8:30pm by the time Lucy is down for the night. Mum and Dad finally left at about 4pm. I didn't think Mum would ever actually leave, she kept fussing over Lucy, telling me the same things over and over until Dad put his foot down and made her get in the car. Lucy remained totally oblivious to it all, not batting an eyelid as her -our mother disappeared from view. The Doctor stayed in the background as much as he could but he couldn't avoid a massive hug from Mum who was acting like she was going away for at least a month, not two days.

We have spent the rest of the afternoon in an uncharacteristically domestic scene, playing with the baby, talking about old times, joking and laughing and just enjoying each other's company. I'm not sure either of us can really believe we are actually together again. The undercurrent of sexual tension that had become part of our relationship is stronger than ever. Every touch, every glance feels charged with electricity and I think we both know resolution is now only a matter of time.

The Doctor is not in the kitchen or living room or anywhere else when I come downstairs from settling the baby. The only clue to his whereabouts is the heavy velvet curtain over the French windows in the dining room that's moving slightly in the breeze. I can't help but smile to myself as I flick the baby monitor on and grab a coat.

He is standing on the deck that overlooks the garden below. The sky is clear and totally unspoilt by light pollution. It took Mum and me a little while to get used to the pitch black of night time in the county but I spent many an hour staring up at the stars, thinking about the Doctor, wondering what he was doing, my heart aching to see him again. And now he is right here, staring up at those very same stars.

He doesn't turn his head as I open the door wider and step out into the freezing cold air but the slight change in his body language tells me he knows I am here. I stand next to him and mirror his pose. The stars are super bright tonight and the moon is huge. We stand in comfortable silence for a while, both lost in our thoughts. _"She asleep?"_ he asks eventually.

_"Yeah, she was out like a light, think we wore her out."_ I sneak a glance sideways and catch him grinning, then his face changes and he's looking at me with such tenderness and pride.

_"You're so good with her Rose, you'll make a wonderful mother one day." _I'm blushing, I'm actually blushing. When did I become all coy and girly?

_"Well I can't believe how quickly she's taken to you, you're her new favorite person."_ He looks more than a little chuffed at this and a wave of adoration surges through me.

A silence falls between us again for several minutes and when he speaks again his voice is thick with emotion. _" I almost gave up when I lost you Rose. I very nearly lost control." _ He rubs his face with his hands and takes a breath. _"Losing you made me question everything, everything I was, everything I am, everything I ever did……"_ He pauses and his voice is so quiet I can barely hear him. _"Everything I should have done."_

He's fiddling with the wooden deck rail, tracing the grain with his finger nail, back and forth back and forth. "_I've always lived my life according to my beliefs and values, some of them long held, passed down through generations of Gallifreyans, some of them gained through 900 years of life experience. Nobody has ever challenged those beliefs and values the way you have Rose Tyler."  
_  
He still doesn't look at me, his apparent fascination with the wood grain still too strong. _"I've always kept a professional distance with my companions. Oh I've grown to care about them, deeply in some cases. I would have risked my life for every one of them but there was a line I never ever crossed. I honestly believed it made things easier when it was time to say goodbye. I missed them all of course but I moved on, I had to. But when you were gone I realized that I'd wasted so much time by stubbornly sticking to my principles as my feelings for you grew and grew, because you see…."  
_  
He is standing in front of me now. He reaches for my hands and holds them, his eyes still doing their best to avoid mine. _"I realized that loosing you didn't hurt any less because I wouldn't cross that stupid bloody line with you." _His eyes lift to meet mine and the undiluted love I see there is overwhelming. _"But now I have a second chance and I'm not going to waste another second."_

His hand brushes gently down my cheek and then his head is tilting and his lips are moving closer to mine and then he's kissing me, oh my god he's kissing me, soft, gentle, chaste kisses, again and again and then firmer, his mouth opening to get a better angle. His hands are in my hair, mine are on his hips. He shifts closer and I feel the tip of his tongue teased my lip for a second and then…. Oh god this man can kiss. My heart is thumping and my knees may fail at any minute but I never want to stop kissing him. Eventually though we break apart, gasping from lack of oxygen and a rather large amount of lust. He rests his forehead against mine, while we both catch our breath, then he's kissing his way down my face, over my check and round to my neck, then he whispers softly in my ear. _"I love you."_


	6. Chapter 6

…

I'm so sorry for not updating this with the final chapter for AGES, also for confusing anyone who read this on teaspoon/time and chips as it was called Intuition there. The change in name happened by accident, the Future is another fic I wrote which I will post shortly. (I'll have to call it something different now!)I didn't realise I'd got them mixed up in till someone pointed it out! whoops!

'…_. oh god this man can kiss. My heart is thumping and my knees may fail at any minute but I never want to stop kissing him. Eventually though we break apart, gasping from lack of oxygen and a rather large amount of lust. He rests his forehead against mine, while we both catch our breath, then he's kissing his way down my face, over my check and round to my neck, then he whispers softly in my ear "I love you."_

Chapter 6

I never thought I'd get to experience the pure bliss of waking up with The Doctor's strong, lean arms wrapped around my waist, his lips gently nuzzling the skin behind my ear. I feel him smile as he realizes I'm awake. _"Morning my gorgeous girl"_

He plants soft kisses along my cheek until he reaches my lips. I turn in his arms to give him better access and then he's kissing me so thoroughly and so deeply I can no longer feel my own body. We didn't actually make love for the first time until 2 days after our first kiss. Although we both wanted to more than anything else in the world, we agreed we should wait until we could be completely alone, somewhere away from my parent's home and without my baby sister asleep in the next room. We both knew it was going to be a phenomenal experience and we wanted to savour every single moment without interruption.

As soon as my Mum and Dad came back The Doctor whisked me off to a very posh hotel where he proceeded to wine, dine and dance me around our bedroom suite. When the time finally came for us to make love we were both trembling so much we could hardly take off our clothes. It was the most incredible experience of my entire life. The Doctor made me feel things I never even knew were possible, over and over again. I cried with joy many times that night, The Doctor kissed away every tear.

I know the time is coming when we will have to face the future, our future. I know the decision I made long ago is set in stone in my heart. I will never leave him. I will never _choose_ to leave him. Experience has taught me the harsh difference between those statements but for now, for right now, there is just him and me and that's all we'll ever really need.

THE END

Finished finally, sorry it took so long. Thank you for your comments, they really do mean a lot!


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